


Hatchling

by KaenOkami



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adoption, Bonding, Dragons, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hatchlings, I Am Fucking Ignoring The Comics, Post-Canon, Reconciliation, Siblings, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22061959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaenOkami/pseuds/KaenOkami
Summary: Just when heading the Fire Nation seems to be a manageable task, Zuko finds himself saddled with a duty no human has been given in over a hundred years.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 317





	Hatchling

**Author's Note:**

> Something of a sequel to "Blood of the Dragon," but it's not necessary to have read that one before reading this one. 
> 
> Written for the ATLA Four Nations zine.

There was very little that surprised Zuko nowadays. 

After five years, he had settled into the role and routine of being Fire Lord. True, it felt as if the reparations to the other nations and the restructuring of the Fire Nation itself was an endless process. At the signing of the global armistice treaty, a dam of sorts had been broken, and he had been flooded with all the demands and protests and vitriol that could be expected from a world ravaged for a century, and at the end of the struggle, left confused as to who had really _won._

His father’s court had been no help, being more interested in scrambling to maintain the power they had enjoyed as the spearheads of a conquering empire that had so abruptly fallen to peace. Over the course of the first year or so, he had ended up having to displace or imprison the majority of them, had even fended off assassination attempts from them. Not that they were the only ones who wanted his head on a pike, but that didn’t make it any better. Were it not for his newfound friends, his quickly married and anointed Fire Lady, and the few younger generals and courtiers that acted for the nation’s best interests and agreed with his way of doing so...Zuko wasn’t entirely certain that he would have been able to keep his head above water. 

The tide had ebbed somewhat now. But only somewhat. After a morning of audiences in the throne room (none too pleased about anything, Zuko thought), he was now in for an afternoon full of documents to process. He’d slogged through to the point where his right hand was beginning to cramp up, and yet he could still barely see over the piles of loose paper and scrolls on the spacious desk in front of him. He groaned, rubbing his face with the hand still holding the brush, and resolved never again to make fun of anyone who complained about dealing with “mountains of paperwork.”

So engrossed had he become in his work that he didn’t notice the one different scroll until it was suddenly being dangled like a fish hook in front of his face.

“Gah!” Zuko jerked back so hard he bonked the back of his head on the golden frame of the chair. “Ow!”

“Having fun, Your Majesty?”

He looked up, startled, at the armored figure leaning up against his chair. “Oh...Hi, Azula. I thought your appointment with Dr. Zhihao was today?”

“It was. It ended two hours ago.” Azula gestured with the scroll to the small office window, and its near-perfect view of the sun already halfway below the horizon. “I’m surprised your eyes aren’t bleeding.”

“Ugh, but they sting,” Zuko sighed. “Please tell me your day’s been at least more exciting than mine. I...What’s the word? Let me live vicariously through you.”

Azula sighed theatrically. “Some _elite guard._ These new trainees are positively useless.”

“You’ll let them live, though, right?”

“No promises, Zuzu.” He started to protest and she promptly bopped him on the nose with the scroll. “None!”

He batted the paper away, laughing all the same. Another thing he’d thought impossible that had become real after all: the chance to reconnect and laugh with his sister again. “So who’s that from? Kuei? Hakoda?”

“Does this look like the Earth King or Water Chief’s seal? Read for yourself,” she said, unrolling it before his face.

It was blank, with an unfamiliar wax seal of four claws. Zuko squinted at it, puzzled, and was about to comment on it, when something occurred to him. He gave the air another sniff: Yes, that was lemon.

Zuko brought a lick of flame to his finger, and held it up to the paper, revealing the archaic characters painstakingly written in the invisible ink. “...The Sun Warriors need me now, too?! What for?”

“They don’t say. And they didn’t ask me along this time. So I suppose you’ll have to find out yourself. Kazan will be saddled and ready for you in the morning.” 

Zuko sighed. “Would it be too much to hope that they’re offering me a break?”

“Oh, absolutely. But Mai will hold things down in your stead, in the meantime. And no one would dare cause trouble with me to keep this palace in line. Speaking of which, while you’re there...” With a flick of Azula’s hands, the candles and torches around the room flared to life in brilliant blue and white flames. “Tell Ran and Shaw hello for me, would you?”

“I’ll pass along the message. You know, I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear how well you’re doing since we visited them.”

Azula smirked. “I should hope so. And remember that you’re to be the best image possible of the modern Fire Nation to them. I expect they still hold a degree of distrust towards us; if we’re ever to reestablish a formal connection with them as a nation, that would be a nice thing to do away with.”

“Yeah, I’ve got the hint.” Zuko pushed back the chair and stood up, raising his arms and stretching hard enough to elicit several satisfying cracks from his spine. “Secret business trip, here I come.”

~0~

He appreciated how well the royal kennel’s training accustomed their animals to any kind of environment had worked for their beloved pair of tigerwolves; Kazan and Ikari had slept calmly in Appa’s saddle for his and Azula’s journey here three years ago, despite the altitude, speed, and no doubt the smell of prey. Aang and Appa were unavailable for a ride this time, so Kazan spent the journey across the ocean curled up and snoozing in the corner of Zuko’s small and speedy private boat. By the time they reached land, Kazan was fully up to the lengthy gallop through the rainforest to the domain of the Sun Warriors. 

He didn’t know what he was expecting when he finally reached the indicated gathering place, dismounted, and joined them. But it certainly wasn’t Chief Huo Shan hurrying up to him and interrupting his formal greeting, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him further into the temple, downward and forward. Kazan gave a puzzled _whuff_ and trotted along at his master’s heels.

“Ch-Chief?! Uh...If this was an emergency, I — “

“No emergency, Fire Lord! But urgency, all the same!” It came to Zuko’s attention then that Huo Shan was smiling.

It wasn’t long before their rushed journey ended, and found them in an enormous torchlit chamber, larger and higher even than his own throne room. It was lined by dozens of beaming Sun Warriors, with an only slightly less enormous mass of glowing coals. Both the room and the mass were still just barely big enough to fit their occupant, Shaw, who was coiled up quite comfortably on the burning heat. Ran was standing upright behind the coals, alert and eying the newcomer imperiously. Zuko has only met the pair three brief times including this one, so he wouldn’t call himself the best in interpreting dragonish expressions, but it seemed to him that both of them were looking extremely pleased with themselves.

He squinted, trying to see what it all meant. “Is...this a ritual of some kind?”

“Not an official one, but certainly cause for celebration.” Huo Shan’s mouth was open to say more, but before he could fully explain, what appeared to be one of the red-hot coals darted out from the pile and straight at Zuko. “Oh! He wants to demonstrate himself.”

“Demonstr — Whoa!” 

Zuko reflexively reached out to catch the projectile zooming up towards him, but had to fight to keep from dropping it as the scorching hot surface pressed up against his bare arms. 

“Ungh, it’s _hot,”_ he hissed through a teeth-clenched grin. He then noticed the bright gold eyes blinking up at him, and the jump of excitement in his head that was not his own. “Uh... _You’re_ hot?”

There was all of a sudden a baby dragon in his arms, and it seemed very happy to be there.

“How...long has he been here?” Zuko heard himself ask. He wasn’t sure how dragons defined gender, but he got the sense that _he_ was correct. 

Shaw lifted her great blue head from the nest of coals, and her mouth hung lazily open in something like a smile. Zuko heard the same strong voice in his head that he had heard on the judgment summit: _Our egg was laid decades ago, little brother. Since before Prince Iroh visited us. The world was no longer safe for young dragons, so we kept him dormant until now. Only this summer have we moved to hatch him...so we could introduce him to you._

“To...To me?” 

_Yes. The Sun Warriors have lived hand to wing with the dragons since times immemorial, and we share a great bond of gratitude for that. But we are both free to make our own decisions as to how to exist with the Fire Nation of today. For now, they will remain in peace here; as for us, we have decided that we will reintroduce ourselves, through you and our son._

“I...” Zuko set his mouth, stood up straighter. The baby dragon chirped and wiggled, apparently impressed. “I see. I’ll help in whatever way I can. What would you have me do?”

 _This child is our firstborn, eight weeks old and weaned. He can survive without us now. As a sign of goodwill, we entrust him to you, to raise as a friend and companion, the way it was in the days before Sozin. We still remember that peace, those bonds. Spirits willing, all of our offspring will know nothing but._

Zuko nodded, holding the little dragon closer. “I’ll do so happily. May I ask his name?”

It seemed to him that the noise Ran made was laughter. 

_Dragons name themselves, little brother. In time, he will tell you._

~0~

Mai tilted her head to the side in utter disbelief. “You’re raising...a dragon?”

“Yep!” Zuko said brightly, diligently chopping up meat on the low table in their quarters. 

“Somebody else’s dragon?”

“Well, he’s kind of half ours now.” The dragon, sitting on the other half of the table, wiggles his tail excitedly. A puff of flame spurts from his mouth toward the bowl, but Zuko pulls it back. “Hey! Trust me, just wait for the seasonings. I’m kind of...fostering him for his parents. Though if all goes well, he should be staying with us for a pretty long time.”

Azula, using Ikari as a lounge pillow on the other side of the room, was grinning like her birthday had come early. “Well, this certainly makes me feel better about protection for our people, should things turn... _bad,_ again. Becoming the first dragon tamer in over a century ought to earn you some respect here too, Zuzu. So long as nobody decides that they would rather _become_ a Dragon instead.”

“Trust me, I _won’t_ let that happen,” Zuko growled, stroking the dragon from head down to neck. “I’ll protect him no matter what. There’s going to be peace between our kinds again.”

He offered the bowl of chopped and spiced meat to the dragon, who happily proceeded to char it black with its fire and then wolf it down. Zuko grinned. “Some of the outer islands are complaining about invasive animal species damaging their lands. I’m thinking I could bring this guy in to take care of that, since he’ll need bigger meals soon.”

“Well, if we can use him for problem solving, I guess he’s not so bad,” Mai conceded. She reached out to give him exactly two quick scratches between the horns. “Good dragon.”

The dragon chirped, gave her fingers an affectionate nibble, then hopped from the table to Zuko’s head to do the same to his hair. Zuko glanced up at him with contented amusement, feeling a trace of the dragon’s avid friendliness over his skin. “Yeah, thanks. We like you too.”

“Do you think I’ll get the next egg?” Azula asked, absently scratching her tigerwolf behind the ears. “Doctor Zhihao was right about raising an animal being therapeutic. This thing doesn’t seem much different from a puppy.”

Zuko shrugged. “Ran and Shaw’s call. But I don’t see why not.”

Through the window, a messenger hawk flew by, letting out a screech shrill enough to draw the dragon’s attention. Puzzled, he tried a wispier call of his own, as he spread his own tiny wings and leapt from Zuko’s head. But far from gliding, he fell in a heap onto the floor, and Zuko felt a needle stab of confusion in his chest. 

He smiled, and reached down to pick the dragon up and set him back on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll have you flying before the summer ends, I promise.”


End file.
